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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Eleven Down, Three to Go! The Pattern Search Continues

My goal to make every project from Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing came with another (perhaps more daunting) challenge: tracking down every pattern that's featured in the book, all from the years 1949 to 1952. This search has held a lot of appeal to my obsessive personality. Anyway, I wanted to give you an update on this, since I am very, very close to having them all. (Yippee!)This past week I located both the background dress and the little girl's party dress. The background dress (pictured above) surfaced with one of my trusty Google alerts. It was an auction on eBay, which I managed to win for $15.59.

The little girl's party dress, on the other hand, had been hidden in plain sight. It was listed on sovintagepatterns.com, and seems to have been there for quite a while. I found it in a moment of serendipity while looking for patterns from the 50's for children's Halloween costumes (only for the silly reason that I adore the illustrations). The pattern number was listed and everything, making me wonder why prior web searches hadn't pulled it up. Technology, it's a mystery sometimes.

I paid $25 for this pattern, more than I like to spend typically. But, I thought, worth it in this case. Yes, even though I don't have a little girl, know any little girls, or have any idea what to do with this dress once I make it. This whole VoNBBS project makes me do funny things sometimes.

This leaves only three patterns to find! The full skirted dress, the shirtwaist, and the suit.

Vogue 7422 (dated 1952)

Vogue 7329 (date unknown)

Vogue Special Design S-4240 (dated 1949)

So, this is really just another pathetic plea for help in locating these suckers. If you sell vintage patterns or are an obsessive vintage pattern troll like me, please do let me know if you can help me find any of these. Thank you. End pathetic plea.

And, as always, thanks for reading!

Update: One commenter kindly asked to see the envelopes for these patterns, and I'm afraid I only have the image for one of them, the full-skirted dress (#7422). The others are still a mystery, as the envelope images are not included in the book. Anyway, here is the one I have:

Update, part deux: Ooh! I found the suit pattern envelope as well. Unfortunately, it has already been sold. (Waahhh.) But here's a pic:

Wow! that's a reason why I love your blog: we know part of your projects, so that we're all eager to see what you'll do next, and what will be your 2009 version of 1953 elegance (I personnally can't wait for the bolero, finding the photograph wonderfully smart, and for the raglan-sleeved coat, which I wouldn't usually find very attractive but guess has potential: it makes me very curious about it). Congratulations about the background dress: VONBBS has plenty beautiful dresses, but for fall I find this lovely collar/scarf detail most appealing, it might be my favourite and I really hoped you'd find it!

Perhaps you found the children's dress at the beginning of your search, balked at the price there, and forgot about it. I do that a lot, balk at the price on a site like that one and never go back.

In fact, I use So Vintage only for fashion porn, I never take them seriously. You notice that the Mad Men costume designers didn't choose to buy their patterns from them, right? Some of those prices are amazing, but you have to be a real collector to pay 45 to 65 dollars for a pattern. I would be terrified to cut it up or use it if I spent that kind of money.

Congratulations on finding the pattern! It's really lovely. I hope you find the shirt waist dress and the other one too. I'm absolutely obsessed with shirt dresses, I think they are a great non-pants option for casual but nice wear.

Hey there, Gertie. I suggest enlisting of Erin of A Dress A Day (I see you have her in your blogroll) in locating your patterns. She has good contacts in the world of vintage pattern vendors.

In other business, I am relatively new to your blog, and I love it! You're inspiring me to get sewing and stick to it, even through the ugly and challenging (and educational) bits. Thanks. Your writing is top notch; I salute your wurd skilz. Keep up the fine work!

If you would like I can scan and send pictures of the remaining 3 patterns. They are all listed in my 1953 Vogue Counter Book. The suit is quite lovely with seams in the right places for alterations and the shirtdress looks very country clubish.

I'm enjoying your progress. I too, have the VONBBS. It's a great approach to sewing. I wish VPB still featured all the wardrobes they used to. My favourites are the Cruise wardrobes from the thirties...embarcation suits, playwear and versatile gowns for the evenings!

Where do people find out more about their patterns? CoPA is amazing, and I had a blast on that free trial, found a few of my patterns and clues about styles/trends, and ages of others. It got me thinking, and I did some digging at WorldCat to see what kind of holdings I could find for vintage pattern catalogs. I was pleasantly surprised to find more holdings for “Vogue Pattern Book” (provided that means what I think it means) than I was expecting, but looks like 2 holdings nationally for any editions at all for Advance, and only one for Hollywood- (Ohio for both, interestingly: Kent State & Bowling Green respectively).

Of course there is the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki project that has great potential (http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page). But I just mean, where else are people finding out more about patterns they have and/or want?

Gertie, I have scanned and emailed pictures of 7329 and 4240 from my 1953 Vogue Counter Book. It's interesting that the picture of the suit in the pattern catalogue is in different colors than on the pattern envelope. It's nice to have the schematics in the pattern book, as well.

Hi, Gertie. I just discovered your blog and am reading all of the posts from oldest to newest. Did you ever find this suit pattern? If not, here it is for sale on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/111204421/vogue-special-design-s-4240-50s-suit?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=vogue+4240&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=allThanks!Sarah